Robert Benedict Bourdillon
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
MC AFC
AFC may stand for:
Organizations
* Action for Children, a UK children's charity
* AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits
* Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution
* A ...
DM (8 September 1889 – 3 March 1971) was a British
World War I pilot and
medical researcher.
Early life
Born in
Easebourne,
Midhurst,
Sussex, southern England, Robert Benedict Bourdillon was the younger son of the poet and translator
Francis William Bourdillon
Francis William Bourdillon (22 March 1852 at Runcorn, Cheshire, England – 13 January 1921 at Buddington, Midhurst) was a British poet and translator. He is known also as a bibliophile.
Life
Born at Trinity Parsonage, Halton Road, Runcorn, Ches ...
.
He attended the
Hazelwood School in
Surrey until 1901 and was then privately educated. He went on to the
University of Oxford in 1908 where he studied at
Balliol College
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
.
At Oxford, he was a founder member of the
Oxford University Mountaineering Club in 1909. He was also in the
Oxford University Officers' Training Corps. In 1912, he graduated from Oxford University with a
BA degree
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in
Natural Science. He then went to
St Mary's Hospital,
London, for further study. After this, he returned to Oxford and became a tutor at
University College.
World War I
Robert Bourdillon left
Oxford University on 2 August 1914. He was commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant in the
Intelligence Corps on 6 August 1914.
On 8 September 1914, he was attached to the Headquarters of
III Corps, where he served as an interpreter since he was fluent in
French. On 10 December 1914, he returned to
England and went to the
Central Flying School
The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at ...
,
Upavon
Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...
. Here, on 12 February 1915, he applied to transfer to the
Royal Flying Corps Special Reserve of Officers and was commissioned as a temporary
Second Lieutenant.
On 29 October 1915, Bourdillon received an
Aero Certificate, flying a
Maurice Farman Shorthorn biplane. With
Louis Strange
Louis Arbon Strange, (27 July 1891 – 15 November 1966) was an English aviator, who served in both World War I and World War II.
Early life
Louis Strange was born in Tarrant Keyneston, Dorset, and was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, ...
he developed a simple but effective new bombsight. It was adopted by the
Royal Flying Corps and the
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
. He also helped in developing a
phosphorus bomb.
In early 1917, Bourdillon trained further as a pilot and gained his "
wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is express ...
". On 11 April 1917, he joined
27 Squadron, which used
Martinsyde Elephant
The Martinsyde G.100 "Elephant" and the G.102 were British fighter bomber aircraft of the First World War built by Martinsyde. The type gained the name "Elephant" from its relatively large size and lack of manoeuvrability. The G.102 differed fro ...
s. On 2 May 1917, he was hospitalised. On his return, he was promoted from
Flying Officer to
Flight Commander.
On 27 July 1917, Bourdillon led five aircraft from
27 Squadron to attack the German
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, p ...
sheds located at
Berchem-Sainte-Agathe
Berchem-Sainte-Agathe ( French, ) or Sint-Agatha-Berchem (Dutch, ), often simply called Berchem, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by Gansh ...
. He left the squadron on 28 August 1917 and joined the
RFC Home Establishment. On 26 September 1917, he was awarded the
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC i ...
. On 21 September 1917, he was promoted to
Staff Officer, 2nd Grade. Then on 1 February 1918, he was appointed
Chief Experimental Officer. By the end of World War I, Bourdillon was a
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and was awarded the
Air Force Cross in the 1 January 1918 King's
Birthday Honours List
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are presen ...
for his work on bombsight development.
Later career
After
World War I, Bourdillon returned to
New College, Oxford, where he was awarded an
MA degree
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in 1919.
During 1919–1921, he was
Fellow and
Praelector in
Chemistry at University College, Oxford, and was succeeded by
E. J. Bowen. During 1919–1921, he was also
Dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles ...
of the College. He transferred his field from chemistry to medicine and in 1925 he received
MB and
BCh degrees. During 1925–1926, he was
House Physician
Pre-registration house officer (PRHO), often known as a houseman or house officer, is a former official term for a grade of junior doctor that was, until 2005, the only job open to medical graduates in the United Kingdom who had just passed the ...
and then Assistant at the
St Mary's Hospital Medical Unit in
London. During 1925–1946, he was based at the
National Institute for Medical Research
The National Institute for Medical Research (commonly abbreviated to NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC);
In 2016, the NIM ...
,
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of ...
, north London. In 1935, he became a
Doctor of Medicine. During 1946–1954, he was Director of the
Stoke Mandeville
Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil p ...
Electro-Medical Research Unit.
Bourdillon was a member the
Eugenics Society
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
and produced several papers on
Vitamin D research.
Selected publications
*
*
*
Personal life
Robert Bourdillon married Harriett Ada (née Barnes) on 18 July 1922 at
St Mary's Church,
Eastbourne in Sussex.
They had two sons. One son,
Tom Bourdillon
Thomas Duncan Bourdillon ( ; 16 March 1924 – 29 July 1956) was an English mountaineer and member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition which made the first ascent of Mount Everest. He died in the Valais, Switzerland, on 29 July 1956 aged ...
, was a
mountaineer. Robert and Tom Bourdillon, together with
Griffith Pugh
Lewis Griffith Cresswell Evans Pugh (29 October 1909 – 22 December 1994), generally known as Griffith Pugh, was a British physiologist and mountaineer. He was the expedition physiologist on the 1953 British expedition that made the first asce ...
, developed the oxygen equipment used for the
1953 British Mount Everest expedition
The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to have succeeded when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit on 29 May 1953. ...
, of which Tom Bourdillon was a member.
On 13 June 1946, Robert Bourdillon was made a
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in the King's
Birthday Honours List
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are presen ...
. He died in 1971 at
Ganges, British Columbia
Ganges, British Columbia is an unincorporated community on Salt Spring Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada.
History
Ganges Harbour, from which Ganges takes its name, was originally called Admiralty Bay but was renamed by Captain ...
in
Canada.
See also
*
1918 Birthday Honours
The 1918 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, 3 June a ...
*
1946 Birthday Honours
The 1946 King's Birthday Honours, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 13 June 1946 for the United Kingdom and British Empire.
The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new h ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourdillon, Robert Benedict
1889 births
1971 deaths
People from Easebourne
People educated at Hazelwood School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Fellows of University College, Oxford
British Army personnel of World War I
Intelligence Corps officers
Royal Flying Corps officers
English chemists
English medical researchers
Physicians of St Mary's Hospital, London
Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) people
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)